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Thursday, July 12, 2012

How to get a "free" deck

Our next house maintenance project will be resurfacing the deck. I am not sure how old the deck is; we are guessing about 20 years old because it was put in at the same time as the pool, and that paperwork is from the early 90's.

While we have cleaned the deck, stained it, and done small repairs....it is at a point where the boards need to be replaced. Alot of them are rotted, split, or warped. When it was just a few boards...we sort of ignored it. Now that they are becoming the majority, it is time to do something about it.

Luckily, the posts still seem to be in good shape.

The plan is to replace all the floor decking with whatever standard decking there is (as much as I would like a composite deck for the maintenance...that isn't an option). The rails are lattice, and we will probably replace them with horizontal bars of some type.

The estimated cost is between $1000 - $1200. That certainly isn't in the budget!!!

Enter gift cards from reward points!!!

I tend to hoard points. Like Swagbucks....most people redeem them for a $5 Amazon card as soon as they can.......vs the 11,305 that I have right now. My Points is sitting at over 16,000. CC1 has 18,000. And CC4 is a Discover card with Cash Back Bonus.

Right now....I have $450 in gift cards just from the points!!! While the deck won't last long enough to build up enough points to pay for ALL of it.....by next spring, we will have over half paid for via points. YAY!

That means we only have to budget $500ish for the repair. We have until next spring before we will do the project, so there is a good chance that money from Overtime will fund the remainder. Also, my mother-in-law often gives us a Lowe's or Home Depot gift card as part of our Christmas present, so that will get added to the pile.

It is so hard to balance it all.....trying to save for everything is tough. At least I know part of our repair is paid for.

I don't use MyPoints all that often...just the click through 5 points, and maybe an occasional purchase. So it takes FOREVER to build them up. My last cash in was for Sears to get a new microwave when ours died.

Good for you! I've heard of swagbucks but am not real clear about it works or how to participate...on some level, I thought it wasn't a legit practice...don't know where I got that idea from. And what I mean is, that the "bucks" never surface...but, you're saying you can earn cold-hard-cash...I'm interested.

Your best bet on cashing in is to get Gift Cards, and they offer lots! But you can also cash in for Paypal money....they just transfer the money into your Paypal account. I have done both and never had a problem.

If you want a referral....e-mail me at mysti1031 AT yahoo DOT com.

Basically, you use it as your go-to search engine (I use it for everything, including the stuff I go to all the time), and you will randomly win "bucks." They vary in amounts. And then you can earn extra by watching videos, games, polls, etc.